The air service development team at Dublin Airport have identified a number of unserved markets in Asia that can sustain regular scheduled flights to the Republic of Ireland’s capital city and are attending Routes Asia in Manila, Philippines to fill these network gaps. It particularly sees a notable role for Asia’s Star Alliance members at Dublin Airport having grown the number of airline members using the airport from this summer.

“We were delighted to see Star Alliance carriers reaching the 1.5 million passenger milestone last year and, this June we look forward to welcoming Aegean Airlines to Dublin Airport,” Vincent Harrison, Managing Director, Dublin Airport told Routesonline ahead of the three-day network development forum.

Aegean will be the ninth Star Alliance carrier to operate from Dublin Airport and the second new carrier from the group to operate from Dublin Airport in successive years. In June 2015 Ethiopian Airlines commenced a fifth freedom service from its African hub in Addis to Los Angeles via Dublin. This service operated with a B787 Dreamliner connecting the three continents of Africa, Europe and North America. The arrival of Ethiopian airlines marked the first African scheduled carrier to operate from Dublin.

This summer Dublin Airport will also see expansion by Air Canada Rouge with the addition of a service to Vancouver to supplement its year round operation to Toronto. This will represent the third consecutive year of growth by Air Canada Rouge since it entered the Irish marketplace.

United Airlines operates services to three of its US hubs from Dublin Airport namely Newark, Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare. The airline announced in February that it will be expanding its Newark operation in Dublin Airport and will operate its double daily service year-round from Winter 2016/2017.

Lufthansa will also expand its operation in Dublin Airport during the peak summer months when it expands to nine flights per week on its Munich service. Lufthansa first operated the route as a weekly service in 2011 and has added extra frequency every year since it started operations in Dublin.

Swiss International Airlines added a Geneva service to supplement its Zurich operation in Dublin during 2015. This expansion will see Swiss Intl operate 13 services per week during this summer to Dublin Airport. Turkish Airlines expanded to a double daily operation during 2015/2016 and will continue the service into the next winter season.

SAS will celebrate 50 years of service to Dublin Airport during April 2016, making it the longest foreign airline operating at Dublin Airport.